Monday, August 31, 2009

1.The Economist (When less is more 14.08.09) and Wired Magazine (The good enough revolution: when cheap and simple is just fine 24.08.09) have recent articles showing consumers preferring less to more - where less means less function and lower price, rather than high price and high quality.

2.The Economist also cites a 1991 paper on Lisp programming which focuses on simplicity from the MIT/Stanford style of design: simplicity, correctness, consistency, completeness.

A great quote, which could have something to say about PhD complexity....

The big complex system scenario goes like this:

First, the right thing needs to be designed. Then its implementation needs to be designed. Finally it is implemented. Because it is the right thing, it has nearly 100% of desired functionality, and implementation simplicity was never a concern so it takes a long time to implement. It is large and complex. It requires complex tools to use properly. The last 20% takes 80% of the effort, and so the right thing takes a long time to get out, and it only runs satisfactorily on the most sophisticated hardware.

The diamond-like jewel scenario goes like this:

The right thing takes forever to design, but it is quite small at every point along the way. To implement it to run fast is either impossible or beyond the capabilities of most implementors.

…

The right thing is frequently a monolithic piece of software, but for no reason other than that the right thing is often designed monolithically. That is, this characteristic is a happenstance.

The lesson to be learned from this is that it is often undesirable to go for the right thing first. It is better to get half of the right thing available so that it spreads like a virus. Once people are hooked on it, take the time to improve it to 90% of the right thing.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Reading Holland (2002) introduction to de Beauvoir. She quotes - "I am an intellectual. I take words and truth to be of value." Force of Circumstance, p.378.

Truth is part of the new/learning Value Dimension. Truth is a community and socially constructed concept (Berger & Luckmann 1967). Words and truth relate to 'power', 'community' - both social value dimensions.

BrandIndex tracks 1,100 consumer brands over 32 sectors on a 7 point profile - ("Buzz", General Impression, Quality, Recommend, Satisfaction, Corporate Reputation & Value). About 2,000 British adults are interviewed daily. They say "BrandIndex takes high-quality, high-relevance data and puts it straight into the hands of decision-makers, so the reporting tool has been designed to suit the style of decision-makers: it’s clear, it’s easy and it’s instant. "

Monday, August 17, 2009

A terrific example of a community creating value, I came across yesterday, in looking for a way to use maps on my iPod Touch, while out and about.

I found the iPhone app (Cost: AUD4), OffMaps, which uses, Cloudmade route checking free protocols, on top of Open mapping system - OpenStreetMaps. A company which provides support (Itoworld.com) made a video showing how much data has been added to OpenStreetMaps in 2008. See below.